How about the sum of ‘Ogisang’ and OK Financial Group players?

Ogino Massa, who was appointed as the third head coach of OK Financial Group on the 1st of this month, has been training hard with the players of OK Financial Group. Ogino is the savior of OK Financial Group, which has not performed well since losing two consecutive championships in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.

Ogino was one of Japan’s men’s volleyball legends during his playing days. During his career, he played in two Olympic Games (1992, 2008) and three World Championships (1990, 1998, 2006) with the Japanese national team.

Photo (Yongin)=Jungwon Lee스포츠토토
He also had a stellar career in the Japanese league, playing for Suntory Legends. He won seven Japan League titles (1996, 2000-2004, 2007), two Japan League Best 6s (1990, 2007), and seven receiving awards. She was a longtime defensive outside hitter and was at the center of Japanese volleyball from 1988 to 2010.

For the upcoming season, Ogino is currently working hard with the OK Financial Group players. The main focus is on defense and how to react to situations that might arise in a real game, which he does over and over again.

At his inaugural press conference on the 1st, Coach Ogino said, “I thought OK Financial Group’s defense was weak, and I plan to strengthen it. We are going to do a lot of blocking and digging position training. We are also doing a lot of situational training. I think Korea lacked training on game situations, so we will focus on that. The players are asking a lot of questions in practice,” he said.

OK Financial Group ranked sixth in receptions (31.53%) and seventh in digs (7.79 per set) last season. Two seasons ago, the numbers weren’t much different. The reason we do situational awareness drills is that even though we talk about it in practice all the time, it’s the players who play the game. The players are learning to survive on the court, communicate with each other, and develop the strength to overcome a crisis.

Head Coach Abo Kiyoshi says, “The most important part of our practice is the game situation drills. We have to develop the ability to choose different offensive and defensive options to suit the situation. “You can’t look to the bench for answers, because that doesn’t make you a better team,” he says. You can’t be involved in every play, every moment. We’re training to help them make the best choices. That’s why we need repetition, and receiving is also important,” he said.

Photo (Yongin)=Jungwon Lee
“Every coach has a different training system, but this is a foreign coach. There is definitely a different feeling than before. Lee Min-gyu said, “The amount of training is more than I thought. We do a lot of repetitions. But it’s not boring. In fact, when you’re doing repetitive training, you might get bored, but you think, ‘Why am I not bored? I like that part.”

Song Hee-chae, one of Ogino’s favorite players, said, “We do a lot of situational training during volleyball matches. “We don’t just get together to stretch and warm up,” she said. “We prepare ourselves, and when it’s time to train, we get together. We prepare ourselves, and when it’s time to work out, we get together and do skill training.”

Setter coach Hwang Dong-il, who joined Ogino after his retirement, said, “You can see the excitement in the players’ eyes. He clearly tells them what the purpose and goal is. The players try to follow along and have fun. The players want to follow, and they want to have fun.”

It may be similar to the previous system, or it may be different. Anything is new and exciting at first. It is important to combine the strengths of Japanese volleyball, which is slowly gaining ground in world volleyball, with the strengths of OK Financial Group. We’ll find out what kind of volleyball Ogino will play with the OK Financial Group players at the Cup in August.